University of Pittsburgh

Department of Neuroscience

Current News, Events and Seminars

2012 Events and Seminars

Matt Schaff Receives Goldwater Scholarship!

As reported in the Pitt Chronicle, April 2, 2012, Matthew A. B. Schaff, a junior majoring in neuroscience and economics, is one of three University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences' students to be named a 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship winner for his exceptional independent research in the natural sciences. The students were nominated for the scholarships through the auspices of Pitt’s University Honors College.

Patricia White writes, "Schaff, a Pitt Honors Scholar from Strafford, Pa., is an undergraduate researcher in Pitt’s Neuropsychopharmacology of Nicotine Addiction Laboratory. He studies the reinforcement-enhancing effects of nicotine on rats through operant conditioning techniques under the direction of Alan Sved, a professor and chair in Pitt’s Department of Neuroscience, and Eric Donny, a professor in Pitt’s Department of Psychology.

Schaff also spent two summers conducting research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Neuropsychiatry Laboratory. An intern/contractor at The Foundation for Biomedical Research in Washington, D.C., Schaff inaugurated the “Research Outreach Initiative,” which encourages scientists to perform K-12 outreach. He is a service volunteer in the Pitt Department of Biological Sciences and Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Mobile Science Lab Program. Schaff’s honors include the Center for Neuroscience Summer Undergraduate Fellowship and the University Honors College Fall Research Fellowship. He serves as president of the Pitt Neuroscience Club.

Schaff plans to earn a PhD in neuroscience and to conduct research on the causes of drug abuse, directing the focus of his future research toward understanding the way the brain processes and responds to rewarding stimuli, particularly commonly abused stimulants such as nicotine and cocaine. He hopes to teach at the university level".

Department of Neuroscience Seminar:

Ph.D. Dissertation Defense:

April 9, 2012

Monday, 1:00 p.m.

Sonya B. Giridhar

Center for Neuroscience

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences/Neuroscience

Seminar Title: Odors, Timescales, and Inhibition: Mechanisms and Function of Long-Latency Interneuron Recruitment in the Olfactory Bulb

Location: 2nd Floor Auditorium, Learning Research Development Center

Sponsor: Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Neuroscience

Department of Neuroscience Seminar:

April 10, 2012

Tuesday, 2:00 p.m.

Mark A. Stopfer, Ph.D.

Senior Principal Investigator, NIH NICHD-DNP

National Institutes of Health

Unit on Sensory Coding and Neural Ensembles

Seminar Title: Roles of Olfactory Receptor Neurons in Establishing Neural Codes for Odors

Location: 2nd Floor Auditorium, Learning Research Development Center

Sponsor: Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Neuroscience

Translational Neuroscience Program and Department of Psychiatry Seminar:

January 26, 2012

Thursday, Noon - 1:00 pm

David Moorman, Ph.D.

Medical University of South Carolina

Seminar Title: Characterizing the Neural Circuitry Underlying Motivated Decision-Making and its Collapse in Addiction

Location: 16th floor Conference Room - 1695 BST

Department of Neuroscience Seminar:

January 23, 2012

Monday, 9:30 am

Oliver Marcus Schluter, Ph.D.

Molecular Neurobiology, European Neuroscience Institute

Gottingen, Germany

Seminar Title: A Molecular Basis for Signaling Specificity in Long-Term Synaptic Plasticity

Location: A219B Langley Hall

Sponsor: Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Neuroscience

Pitt News Release: January 18, 2012

Teenagers' Brains Make Them More Susceptible to Addiction, Depression Than Adults

As published by Drs. Bita Moghaddam and David Sturman in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science research "compared the brain activity of adolescents and adults in rats involved in a task in which they anticipated a reward". The study found "that not only is reward expectancy processed differently in an adolescent brain, but also it can affect brain regions directly responsible for decision-making and action selection". 

 

Department of Neuroscience Seminar:

January 18, 2012

Wednesday, 9:30 am

Ju Young Kim, Ph.D.

Department of Neurology, Institute for Cell Engineering

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Seminar Title: Regulation of Neural Development in Dentate Neurons by Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1)

Location: A219B Langley Hall

Sponsor: Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Neuroscience

 

Dr. Edward Stricker, Dean of the University Honors College and Professor of Neuroscience, to deliver Honors College address - January 11, 2012

 

As reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today Dr. Edward Stricker describes family influences on his life, his passion for education, his academic and research years and his plans to address the University community of the state of the Honors College.

 

 

Department of Neuroscience Seminar

January 9, 2012

Monday, 9:30 am

Alexei Morozov, Ph.D.

Investigator

National Institute of Mental Health

Bethesda, MD

Seminar Title: Functional analysis of neural circuitry of emotions

Location: A219B Langley Hall

Sponsor: Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Neuroscience

Dr. Anthony A. Grace Named Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

 

Anthony Grace, Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience, was recently honored as a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his contributions to cellular and systems studies of the brain’s dopamine system as it relates to understanding the mechanisms of schizophrenia.